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Explores how GnRH influences sex differentiation in Sebastes schlegelii, indicating key signaling pathways involved.
Sex determination and gonadal differentiation are essential for vertebrate development and reproduction. Fish, with both genetic and environmental sex-determining mechanisms, serve as ideal models for exploring environmental effects on gonadal development. The hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis is involved in sex differentiation, but its role as a key mediator in temperature-dependent sex differentiation remains unclear. Sebastes schlegelii is an economically important marine fish species along the northern coast of China. It exhibits obvious sexual growth dimorphism and typical temperature-dependent sex differentiation, making it an excellent model for investigating the mechanism of sex differentiation. In this study, individuals of S. schlegelii at the sex differentiation stage were treated with a GnRH receptor antagonist and subjected to transcriptome sequencing analysis. The results revealed that GnRH may regulate sex differentiation through steroid biosynthesis, TGF-β and MAPK signaling pathways. We identified several key genes, including srd5, bmp8a, bmp2, fgf23, pdgfra, and egfr, which may affect gonadal differentiation by acting on core sex-determining genes and steroidogenesis. In conclusion, GnRH precisely mediates the process of sex differentiation by modulating the TGF-β signaling pathway, the MAPK signaling pathway, and local gonadal steroidogenic networks.
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Huang et al. (2026) studied this question.
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